tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post5047794226901100648..comments2024-03-29T07:49:20.875-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/29/24: Shut off.Neil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-39650528155806866532021-02-16T18:43:03.933-06:002021-02-16T18:43:03.933-06:00Plumbers do indeed deal with, well, most everythin...Plumbers do indeed deal with, well, most everything that flows through pipes, whether in liquid or gas form. If your project involves properly securing pipes so they won't leak, you call a plumber. (From my limited experience with plumbing repairs, they can have it.)<br /><br />In reading the comments here, it occurred to me that when our old gas-fired water heater expired, the replacement was installed by one very competent plumber, who handled connections for water, gas and electrical, needing no assistance from anyone else, other than to lift the new heater off the truck.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15875378656423252469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-19389848802932177962021-02-16T15:35:55.102-06:002021-02-16T15:35:55.102-06:00Pipes is pipes. Which is why, in the land of Qano...Pipes is pipes. Which is why, in the land of Qanon, plumbers often perform colonoscopies in their spare time... Jakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-20313902141455316652021-02-16T10:42:40.340-06:002021-02-16T10:42:40.340-06:00From the intro, I was expecting a more harrowing t...From the intro, I was expecting a more harrowing tale. Rather than wearing your fleeces to bed under doubled comforters, you were back to normal in time for a post dinner nap. I'd call that a win.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08613528527379198505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-7555776201705426752021-02-16T09:35:46.149-06:002021-02-16T09:35:46.149-06:00Well, I'll take the bait -- I was always the o...Well, I'll take the bait -- I was always the one who volunteered to participate (as the stooge) in a teacher's mathematical tricks. I think the case of the advice (which usually sounds like a command) to get a plumber is a classic division of labor, which confounds men as often as women. The gas company is responsible for bringing gas to your house, but not for fixing your pipes, which, regardless of whether they carry gas or water or refrigerant or anything else usually fall into the domain of the plumber. The homeowner whose house blew up was said to have fiddled with the furnace the day before. A lesson well learned, if you can afford it; otherwise, you takes your chances.<br /><br />johntatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-78964742500396997812021-02-16T07:56:11.751-06:002021-02-16T07:56:11.751-06:00Gas and water both flow through very similar types...Gas and water both flow through very similar types of pipe. But different systems of pipe. Separately in their own pipe. Plumbers work on water, seat and gas pipe. <br /><br />If you want something not to leak do not call me call a plumber. I'm a carpenterFMEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06829632906445535928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-86701484751382067602021-02-15T17:59:30.407-06:002021-02-15T17:59:30.407-06:00Not being mechanically inclined, I don’t understan...Not being mechanically inclined, I don’t understand why a plumber is needed for a gas leak. Do the water and gas travel through the same pipes? Seems implausible, but what do I know? Can one of you big, strong men explain it to the little lady? (Explanations also accepted from women.)Coeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06130250489695215525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-44701858768633536632021-02-15T12:29:48.459-06:002021-02-15T12:29:48.459-06:00I once had a small gas leak, Peoples Gas turned of...I once had a small gas leak, Peoples Gas turned off the gas, but rather than call a plumber,I put some teflon tape on the threads of the pipe and screwed it back together myself. I don't recommend that course of action. However unlikely it seems that your gas leak would have had any serious adverse effects, a couple of these unlikely events have actually occurred in my neighborhood in the last few years: at least one family (perhaps more than one) of 4 or 5 people went to sleep one night and never woke up due to carbon monoxide poisoning; another family's house blew up very spectacularly from a leak -- the lot remains empty years after the event -- I pass by several times a week.<br /><br />johntatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-17318842613573897822021-02-15T12:03:15.704-06:002021-02-15T12:03:15.704-06:00Speaking as one who's survived several domesti...Speaking as one who's survived several domestic home maintenance crises over the decades (several of which had to do with growing up in a Wilmette house built in 1873), I can say that what you learn in your first experience with a failed (name of important home device here) will enable you to either avoid or at least minimuze the severity of the same failure next time, expecially if the professional you've summoned is willing to share a little knowledge with you. The trick is to express interest (if not downright appreciation) in their work without hovering all over them. Let them fix it first, then tell you all about it, and most are happy to do so.<br /><br />Thus I learned all kinds of tips that came back to help me in later years. For example, candles are a terrific source of heat, cheaper and more plentiful than space heaters (and if your house was chilly on Valentine's Day of all days, you weren't doing it right). Modern gas-fired furnaces are lit with ceramic ignitors, which fail in winter at the worst possible time (when you're out of candles), but it's still possible to light the furnace manually by watching its elaborate computerized igniting procedure, and sticking a lighter into the gas jet at just the right moment, thus restoring heat for a time while you run out for a new ignitor. <br /><br />Your closeup photo of a hot-water radiator was familiar to me, too, as that is the view you have while burping air out of your upstairs radiators with the magic key found in all antique homes: untwist the little radiator petcock until air whooshes out, continue that until water emerges, close the petcock, and your radiator will now heat fully from top to bottom. <br /><br />I will cheerfully admit that gas leaks are at a different level of severity than most home crises, but that which does not blow you up makes you stronger.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15875378656423252469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-21780210183497647562021-02-15T11:56:53.149-06:002021-02-15T11:56:53.149-06:00This is wonderful, and could not have been done ju...This is wonderful, and could not have been done justice in 700 words, IMHO. But the jewel in the crown is: "I can decide later whether this is the sort of hale, we're-in-it-together problem that readers can relate to, or a terrified bleat of white privilege by a suburban burgermeister who for a few hours glimpsed the skull of bureaucratic bungling that normally is kept well-fleshed out and smiling for me. (Editor's note: the latter, which is why you're reading it here and not in the newspaper)." Cherce, indeed. <br /><br />That being said, you discover a gas leak and within 4 1/2 hours you've been visited by 4 helpers and it's working again? Seems to me that the skull was not really bared in this instance and that you were smiled on as usual. Though I appreciate the reference to bureaucracy better after reading the first 2 comments. <br /><br />As somebody who feels guilty pointing out typos, I revel in this one. "Land's End," ridiculously, has the apostrophe in the wrong place in this account. As far as the company is concerned, not as far as the dictionary is, of course. : )Jakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-42150377876228467542021-02-15T11:43:56.757-06:002021-02-15T11:43:56.757-06:00I do property management and maintenance . I calle...I do property management and maintenance . I called the gas company because of the smell and a 6 flat had no gas for 2 days in January a couple years ago . it was in the 30s. the leak was outside and they had to bring out a back hoe . when I smell gas now. I call the plumber. but tenants call the gas company and end up with the gas shut off . sometimes for days. ive ground barrel locks off the meter while waiting for them to come back and turn it on. just turn it on after the repair my damn self. can't have the water pipes freeze. which of course has happened. what mess that is. at least I dont own or live in these buildings.<br /><br />I think you handled it all just right Neil. safety firstFMEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06829632906445535928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-85049775806094323862021-02-15T08:54:27.800-06:002021-02-15T08:54:27.800-06:00I tell people all the time, never, ever call the g...I tell people all the time, never, ever call the gas company if you smell gas in the house.<br />Call a plumber, because the plumber won't turn off your gas & lock it off, even in cold weather, he'll just fix the leak!<br />And actually, you aren't smelling the gas, which is odorless, you're smelling a chemical called Mercaptan, which is added to the gas & is distantly related to the liquid skunks spray out.Clark St.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09634234069783123180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-59000667352493784032021-02-15T07:08:59.488-06:002021-02-15T07:08:59.488-06:00One of the first things I did when I bought my hou...One of the first things I did when I bought my house was replace the old furnace with a new one and made sure it was a reputable company with 24 hour service. Over 20 years it has gone out (like a week ago last Friday at 8:30 at night), I place the call, they called back within 30 minutes, furnace was back an running within an hour. It's a very nervous feeling until they show up and fix it. And when they show up you feel so relieved. They are like great magicians when they show up and fix it. Your problem happens and it 40 degrees outside you don't worry so much, but when it's below zero it a bit frightening. I wonder if you could have just called Village Plumbing in the first place. Connellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406704590565406630noreply@blogger.com